Snap-hook for harness



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN NORTH, OF MIDDLETOVN, CONNECTICUT.

SNAPHOOK FOR HARNESS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,084, dated September 1S, 1860.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN NORTH, of Mddletown, in the State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in what arecommonly termed Snap-Hooks, and that the following, taken in Connectionwith the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings Figure l is a side elevation of my improved hook with astrap in the eye thereof and a ring inolosed in the hook. Fig. 2 is afront elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of the hook properdetached and Fig. 4L is a front elevation of the tongue and eye only.

All snap hooks as at present constructed consist so far as I know offour essential parts, viz., the hook proper which contains or holds thearticle to be held, the eye to which the strap cord or chain is secured,the tongue which shuts the opening of the hook and is pivoted upon thehook, and the spring which always tends to hold the tongue in properposition to close the opening, and in all hooks known to me the eye ismade in one piece with the hook and these hooks are not so reliable asthey might be for the reason that the spring has the whole duty ofholding the tongue in place and when weakened by use performs its dutyineiiiciently or if broken permits the ring or other article held to flyout of the hook.

The object of my invention is to relieve the spring partially from thisduty and to make the hook secure with a broken spring. In the drawingsthe ring which may be supposed to represent the ring of a horses bit isshown at f, and the strap which rep resents a rein at e. This strap issecured in the eye g and this eye is made in one piece with the tongue7i.. The hook which is shown detached in Fig. 3 has a hole through itsshank and is to be pivoted into the eye and tongue as shown in thedrawings or in any other convenient manner the precise kind ofattachment being unimportant so long as it is sufficiently strong andper mits the hook to swing upon the eye and tongue.

A small spring is to be riveted to the tongue and have its end restingin a small notch Z in the hook, the object being to hold the tongue andhook in the relative positions shown in Fig. l; any other spring solocated and attached as to perform this duty will serve instead of theone shown in the drawings.

By observation of Fig. l it will be peroeived that the eye and tongueare so shaped and attached to the hook that the eye g lies outside of aline a l) drawn from the end of the strap through the hinge and to thebearing point of the ring inolosed in the hook (see line Z e).

From the fact that the eye is made in one piece with the tongue and fromthe peculiar shape of the eye and tongue as a whole and their relativeposition to the bearing point of the hook, it follows that any strainupon the strap causes the end y of the tongue to apply itself closely tothe point of the hook, and the stronger the strain the more closely willthe two parts hug together.

If the spring be either weak or broken or removed this result will stilltake place and it is produced for the reason that the tongue and eye aremade in one piece and that the eye has the relative position to theother parts above described.

I therefore claim as of my own invention- A snap hook in which the eyeis made in one piece with the tongue and has a position relative to thebearing point of the hook or that point in which a ring restssubstantially such as is hereinbefore described.'

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHN NORTH. In presence of- IRA H. TUTHiLL, JONATHAN J. ELY.`

